In Which There is Mistletoe
by YesIEatQuiche
Summary: Which is very much like the title. Sophie keeps sighing, but WHY? HowlXSophie oneshot. Post book, mainly fluff and nonsense. Written whilst in a Christmas spirit.


**A/N: **Merry Christmas everyone! I was thinking of this as I was laying in bed yesterday morning haha. So here it is ^^ Hopefully you enjoy this bit of fluff written especially for your (and my) amusement.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Howl's Moving Castle, this would have actually happened IN THE BOOK.

In Which There is Mistletoe

A devastatingly long sigh swept through the moving castle. Howl – sitting at his workbench and intent on working (for once) – didn't notice. Sophie bit back another sigh and hugged her knees to her chest. Her chin rested on her knees and some loose red gold hairs obscured her vision. The castle was silent aside from a crackling fire (this wasn't Calcifer, mind you) and Howl's scribbling quill.

Loathe to break the semi-silence with yet another sigh, Sophie just sat on her fire-side stool and thought. She did not think about Howl (at first). No, Sophie was musing over her recent reunion with her sisters Martha and Lettie. The other day they had gone out to lunch – just the three of them. Before long they were gushing about Michael, Suliman, and Howl. Or rather, Martha and Lettie had gushed while Sophie had sat and listened. She was quite surprised at all her sisters had to share, and had blushed for them when they did not. Finally, it was Sophie's turn. Martha and Lettie had turned to her expectantly. After many protests and denials the truth had begun to sink in at last.

_Lettie, who had always been the boldest, voiced her nagging suspicion: "Wait a minute Sophie. You aren't saying – I must have misunderstood you – you aren't saying that you and Howl haven't even…" She trailed off in growing astonishment. _

_"Kissed?" Martha finished. _

_"Check please!" Sophie called to the waiter as her cheeks reddened. This was confirmation enough. _

_"What a scoundrel!" Martha exclaimed, along with a few choice words Sophie would dare not repeat. _

_"Blast Howl – Suliman has told me that Prince Justin still asks about you, you know," Lettie offered. _

_"Thanks both of you – I really had a good time," Sophie began. "And I'm fine – Howl's fine. We're all just_ fine_." _

But _was _she really fine? Sophie wondered. Well, she supposed she was _fine_ – the question was if fine was alright for her. Was it okay to be just fine if she could be great, super, or even marvelous?

_No,_ Sophie thought, _it isn't up to me to change it. _He_ has to do something. _After all _he _was the one who had said those words: "I think we ought to live happily ever after". And Sophie was left to wonder for the umpteenth time: did he really mean it?

Sophie gazed at Howl's back. He was still hard at work on a new spell from the king. This was not unusual – ever since things had returned to normal (that is to say after the Witch was destroyed and Sophie had been changed back) Howl had been working nonstop. If Sophie didn't know any better, she'd say he was ignoring her.

Sophie sat up in her chair. _No!_ she thought, _he's not going to slither out of this one._ She slowly stood up, unsure of what she was about to do.

As Sophie quietly walked over to the workbench, the strangest thing happened. A small weed like-thing was hanging from the rafters. She knew it was mistletoe, and she could have sworn it had not been there a second ago. Was the moving castle reading her mind?

Sophie shuffled next to Howl's hunched form. She gave his shoulder a poke.

"Howl?" For good measure Sophie gave his shoulder a harder poke.

Finally he shifted his attention to Sophie.

"Confound it woman! Can't you see I'm in the mid–"

Before she could change her mind, Sophie leaned towards Howl and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. It was like kissing a mannequin: Howl wasn't doing _any_thing (as usual). Slightly hurt, Sophie stopped and stood up. _It seems Martha and Lettie were right,_ Sophie thought dejectedly, _Howl doesn't love me after all!_

In a last ditch effort to salvage her dignity she gestured upward.

"Mistletoe," she explained.

Howl didn't even have the courtesy to look up. Hastily, Sophie walked away. She didn't know where she was going, but any place was better than the castle. It seemed so _small _all of a sudden. Perhaps Calcifer should do something about that.

Poor Howl finally snapped out of his trance and jumped to his feet, knocking over his stool in the process. Amidst all the clattering, Howl attempted to grab Sophie's wrist. But Sophie was moving too fast: it slipped through his fingers. _Confound it all!_ Howl thought. Was he a wizard or not?

A few well-chosen words later Howl materialized in front of Sophie and backed her against the wall. He placed his hands on either side of her for good measure. They stood like that for a moment, until Sophie felt she _must _say something.

"What's this? A change of heart?" Sophie sneered.

"I'm sorry Sophie," Howl replied sincerely.

And then Howl leaned in rather quickly and kissed Sophie. They remained glued together for quite some time as neither seemed to need any air (almost like magic!). A proper kiss, Sophie later thought – one she could feel all the way down to her toes. And if either of them had cared to look up, they would have seen little sprouts of mistletoe growing above them in the rafters.

**A/N: **So was that a ball of cheese or was that a ball of cheese?

Send your thoughts my way please ^^

(Oh my goodness: unintentional rhyming)


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